Banana Nut Muffins

I'm going to do muffin flavors individually for my recipe "log." Sometimes the ingredients change based on what type of flavors I use. For example, less liquid for pumpkin and banana muffins, more for chocolate muffins made with cocoa powder.

For banana muffins I didn't use very many liquids. First I ran 3 small/medium bananas (2 large would work) through the food processor until they were really smooth, and then poured the bananas into the mixing bowl (picture below).

I have at least one child who has a problem with certain textures, so I am often using my food processor so that he will eat what I make. And, by the way, one time I made these with only 2 small bananas, and the banana flavor was not enough for me.

Then I added my liquid ingredients to the bowl: 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt. I gave them a stir. Next I put my rolled oats in the coffee grinder that I have designated for making flours on the fine ground setting. I ground flax seed in there as well and put all my dry ingredients in the bowl: 1 3/4 cups oat flour, 2 tablespoons ground flax seed, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 cup sugar. I stirred everything until it was mixed, and then stirred in a small package of walnut pieces.

I scooped all of the batter into my 12 muffin cups. For all my muffin recipes I am trying to get the batter to be precisely 12 muffins. I don't like having that extra 2-6 muffins to bake after the initial 12. This recipe makes exactly 12. It will seem like you are overfilling your muffin cups, but with gluten free baking, there is not a lot of rising. You are lucky to get a moist, flavorful, muffin (which this is). So, fill it up all the way. You can see from my pictures what I'm talking about. (Above is the picture of the batter in the muffin cups, and below you can see the fully baked muffins.)

I'm going to add another thing to my recipe next time: salt. I think it should be 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon. I eat my muffins with some delicious, salty butter, so I didn't miss it too much. But, when I tasted the muffin alone, I missed a little salt. Everyone has preferences, so make it how you like it. Another thing I'd like to try is using honey instead of sugar. It is a healthier sweetener than white sugar. As far as I can tell from looking at other people's recipes, I think the honey is fairly equal to sugar in sweetness, so I would use the same amount.

So don't these look delicious? They are!!

 Here's the recipe:

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:
3 small or 2 large bananas
2 T. plain or greek yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups oat flour
2 T. ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 small package of walnut pieces (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir first 4 ingredients ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Add remaining ingredients (except nuts) and stir until well blended together. Add nuts and stir. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, until muffins are fully cooked inside and the tops begin to brown slightly. (I like to leave my muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes before moving them because they tend to lose their shape if I don't let them set a bit just out of the oven.)

Pancakes

So it can be a real bummer to adapt to gluten free eating. I have been avoiding gluten for about 5 years now, and for a long time I tended to buy pre-made box mixes for baking of any kind. I know exactly which mixes I like the best for muffins, pancakes, and cake. I haven't experimented as much with the bread doughs, and I have NOT found a pre-made mix or a recipe from scratch for a gluten free pizza that tastes good at all (which is such a bummer).  I have also found some great recipes out there that use pre-made mixes for baking an alternate item. For example, using a gluten free yellow cake mix for pumpkin chocolate chip bread is pretty awesome. Anyway, I created this blog to keep track of what I DO like, which takes a lot of trial and error. In my gluten free journey, my method has been to look for recipes on the web that others have tried and liked (thank God for those people who shared), and then I would be willing to try something someone else has proofed. Let's face it, eating well or eating to avoid a food allergy can be SO expensive. So, I generally don't waste my money on things that may not be good. With that being said, if anyone comes across something I have tried and liked, and they like it too, it makes me a happy camper. My gluten free friends and I are always sharing what we know is good. It's important! This is not grade school where we are not allowed to cheat or share ideas. This is surviving not being able to eat most of what is on the shelves at the store!!! Share! I'm sharing. My first recipe to share with you is...

Pancakes

(Notice I didn't say "Buttermilk Pancakes" or "Blueberry Pancakes" or any of the numerous variations you can do with a pancake, since this is a very versatile food. Just the basic recipe.)

So here is the basic recipe for a pancake that you can find in your Better Homes cookbook or online anywhere:

Dry:

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 T. sugar

Wet:

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 T. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Here is MY recipe for gluten free pancakes: (notes on my preferences and variations to follow)

1 cup oat flour

1 T. ground flax seed

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 T. sugar (or other sweetener)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk (any type of milk will do)

1 egg (or two egg whites or egg substitute)

1 T. yogurt (or butter or any type of oil)

1 tsp. vanilla

(I double this recipe for my family of 5. This morning I got 22 small/med pancakes.)

Mix dry ingredients well. Add liquid ingredients and stir until blended. So easy!! But, there is an important detail here. Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. 

I have this great new love of oat flour. For any kind of baking with it, you can expect the oat flour to soak up a lot of liquid, just like when you cook it on the stovetop for your cereal in the morning. So, it needs to sit to be the proper consistency for pancakes. At first, when you mix the batter, it will seem too runny. DO NOT add more flour or dry ingredients to compensate. Just let it sit a bit. It will become very thick and it will make the most poofy pancakes, especially when using buttermilk. Look at them bubble and poof!!

I just love the oat flour because it tastes naturally sweet without the grit of rice flours. Anyone remember the first time they ate a piece of GF bread? Ew. Can I get a witness? The grit is just hard to take after years of soft wheat bread. So I'm loving me some oat flour. It's soft when cooked. No grit. I actually grind my own flour (much cheaper this way) in my coffee grinder on the fine ground setting, and I toss my flax seeds in there too. It's so cheap to buy that huge bucket of rolled oats and grind it myself. I know that the people with Celiacs who have to be super duper careful usually buy the GF oats, so maybe it's not more cost effective. But as for me, I'm okay if I don't buy things dedicated to a GF facility. I might get cramps or nausea, but I won't be poisoning myself.

For health benefits, I like to add cinnamon to a lot of our foods, even to our coffee grinds before brewing. I have PCOS, and cinnamon is supposed to be helpful for the cells to accept insulin the body makes instead of not recognizing it. I also like to use yogurt a lot, since that good bacteria is helpful for people like myself with my damaged gut, and my husband who has IBD.

Sometimes I make a syrup out of frozen fruit and a little sugar. It's easy to just toss it in a sauce pot and let it cook. Tastes AMAZING on a pancake with whipped cream. We also like to toss in things like chocolate chips, fruit, or pumpkin, into the batter before cooking. The kids and hubs love peanut butter on their pancakes as a topper instead of butter. If you have never tried that, it's pretty awesome too. I'm sure any nut butter would be scrumptious. I'm a butter girl. I could eat it alone. Don't you love pancakes? So versatile. 

Before discovering oat flour, Krusteaz (buttermilk pancake mix) was our favorite GF pancake mix. Wowzer, it's good. There's nothing wrong with NOT doing things from scratch. I think I still would be doing the box mix if it weren't for me trying to get my my family to eat heathy stuff, like oatmeal…which they all hate. HA HA HA HA (evil laugh). I got you to eat it!! And you like it. 

Coming soon…muffins.